Ken Rosenthal apparently doesn’t sleep this time of year, and he reported early this morning that the White Sox were in “serious discussions” with the Diamondbacks regarding an Edwin Jackson for Daniel Hudson trade. A few minutes ago Joe Cowley tweeted that the deal could go down as soon as this morning. The deal would have the Sox sending an additional prospect along with Hudson.

Both Rosenthal and Cowley are leaning in the direction of this being a move in which the Sox would bolster their rotation, but it’s worth noting (as Rosenthal does before playing it down) that the Nationals have been rumored to want Edwin Jackson for weeks now, and they happen to have one Adam Dunn, who the Sox want.

I understand that the Sox are in a playoff race and don’t really trust Daniel Hudson right now, but Edwin Jackson — no hitter notwithstanding — is no great shakes himself. He’s got a 5.16 ERA, has a WHIP of 1.49 and leads the league in wild pitches for cryin’ out loud. If the Nats are still at all interested in the guy, it seems almost criminal to not try to flip him for Dunn.

And if it really is pitching you want, aren’t there any better available options than Edwin Jackson?

The Cardinals have always emphasized building from within. In the 2016-17 offseason, however, they may end up being one of the bigger free agent buyers. At least according to some informed speculation.

The Cardinals are already losing their first round pick due to the Fowler signing, so any other top free agent won’t cost them more than the money he’s owed. And as far as money goes, the Cardinals have a great deal of it, despite being a small market team. They have a billion dollar TV deal coming online and Matt Holliday and Jaime Garcia are off the payroll now. Spending big on a free agent or three would not cripple them or anything.

Encarnacion or Trumbo would be first baseman, which wold fly in the face of the Cards’ move of Matt Carpenter to first base (and, at least as far as Encarnacion goes, would fly in the face of good defense). Getting either of them would push Carpenter back to second, displacing Kolten Wong, or over to third, displacing Jhonny Peralta. If you’re going to do that, I’d say that Turner would make more sense, but what do I know?

Either way, the Cardinals may be entering a pretty interesting phase of their offseason now. And an unfamiliar one as, quite possibly, the top free agent buyer on the market.

There is literally nothing you could tell me that the incoming administration is considering which would shock me anymore. As such, I saw this story when I woke up this morning, blinked once, took a sip of coffee, closed the browser window and just went on with my morning, as desensitized as a wisdom tooth about to be yanked.

Rob Bradford of WEEI.com reports that Former Red Sox, Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine is on a short-list of candidates for the job of United States Ambassador to Japan:

The 66-year-old, who currently serves as Sacred Heart University’s athletics director, has engaged in preliminary discussions with President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team regarding the position.

Valentine managed the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for six seasons, leading the team to a championship in 2005. He also knows the current prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, as both went to USC. Assuming championship teams meet the country’s leader in Japan like they do in the United States, Valentine has at least twice the amount of experience with top political leaders than does, say, Ned Yost, so that’s something.

The former manager, more importantly, is friends with Donald Trump’s brother, with the two of them going way back. Which, given how this transition is going, seems like a far more important set of qualifications than anything else on this list.